Aircraft nose landing gear

ABSTRACT

An aircraft nose landing gear installation that utilizes a single piece pin inserted through the gear fittings and into the two piece, fail safe support structure without requiring mechanical retention on the outside of the wheel well.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a nose gear installation and more particularly to a means for securing an aircraft nose landing gear assembly into the nose wheel well support structure of an aircraft.

2. Background Information

Prior Art Literature

U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,976 to Derrien issued Aug. 16, 1994 which shows a dual purpose shock absorber/actuator including the feature of having a second stage that helps diminish the impact of a crash landing, the system being primarily directed toward rotorcraft which encounter these conditions during autorotation landings.

Prior Nose Gear Systems

As can be seen in FIG. 1, in prior commercial transport aircraft, the nose landing gear 12 generally consists of a shock strut assembly 10 and drag brace members 20. The shock strut carries the wheels (not shown) and steering mechanism (not shown) and pivots about trunnion pins 30. Bushings 40 located in the side walls of the nose wheel well receive and support the trunnion pins 30. The drag brace members 20 are used to unfold the landing gear and lock it in place when brace members 20 also brace the landing gear against forward and aft loads. The drag brace members 20 are secured to the nose wheel well support structure in a way substantially the same as the way in which the shock strut assembly 10 is secured to support structure.

Problems of the Prior Nose Gear Systems

The previous way of securing the nose landing gear assembly 12 to the nose wheel well structure is as shown in FIG. 2, the old method employs joints at each of the landing gear support fittings 45 having a spherically mounted self lubricating bearing 50, a cylindrical steel pin 60, and a corresponding cylindrical bushing 70 in the landing gear assembly 12. Also at each joint location, a retaining nut, lock wire and washers (not shown in FIG. 2) are secured to the steel pin on the outboard (pressurized) side of the nose wheel well structure.

It is very difficult for a production worker or mechanic to access the outboard side of the nose wheel well at each of the joint locations and install retaining nuts, washers and lockwires. Consequently, the initial installation and subsequent removal and replacement of nose landing gear assemblies is a difficult and time consuming operation requiring considerable skill and effort. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved nose landing gear trunnion pin joint for installation of landing gear assemblies into the nose wheel well that does not require outboard retaining nuts, washers, or lockwires. Such a landing gear assembly would be designed so that a mechanic could install, remove or replace the nose landing assembly without accessing the outboard side of the nose wheel well.

A further nose landing gear trunnion pin arrangement relies on outboard side installed retaining nuts and the like as described above. Such aircraft, however, use trunnion pins that install only from the inboard side. However, the landing gear support fittings in the nose wheel well are single piece fittings designed to a safe life requirement. Such aircraft use two-sided fittings that are designed to a fail safety requirement. These two-sided fittings require an inboard bushing and an outboard bushing and so, because an unrestrained outboard bushing could migrate outboard, trunnion pins were supplied with outboard retaining nuts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a landing gear trunnion pin joint solving the aforementioned trunnion pin joint problem and provides for simplified manufacture, installation and removal of the nose gear.

Accordingly, the present aircraft nose landing gear installation provides conceptually a landing gear trunnion pin joint for mounting a landing gear assembly to an aircraft structure. It includes a trunnion pin, an inboard nose wheel well fitting, a corresponding outboard nose wheel well fitting, an inboard bushing and an outboard bushing symmetrically mounted in each of the fittings and a retention means. The retention means is a specially adapted retaining clip that is mounted to the outboard nose wheel well fitting and prevents the outboard bushing mounted in the outboard nose wheel well fitting from migrating out and away from the trunnion pin.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is illustrative of a general aircraft nose gear assembly;

FIG. 2 is illustrative of the prior method of securing the nose landing gear assembly to the nose wheel well structure;

FIG. 3 is illustrative of the eight elements compromising the present trunnion pin joint;

FIG. 4 is illustrative in more detail of the relationship of the elements shown in FIG. 3, including the manner in which the retaining clip functions to prevent outward migration of the outboard bushing; and

FIG. 5 is a view of the trunnion pin joint from the outside of the nose wheel well.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Turning now to FIGS. 3 and 4, it can be seen that the trunnion pin joint 90 according to the present system includes eight basic elements: a trunnion pin 100, a landing gear fitting 110, an inboard nose wheel well fitting 130, a nose wheel well web 135, an outboard nose wheel well fitting 140, an inboard bushing 132 and an outboard bushing 142 and an outboard bushing retention clip 150. Trunnion pin 100 is secured to landing gear fitting 110 by a retention bolt 120 which passes through cylindrical bores in the landing gear fitting (not shown) and corresponding bores in the trunnion pin (not shown). Inboard nose wheel well fitting 130 and outboard nose wheel well fitting 140 are mounted on opposite sides of nose wheel well web 135. As can be seen in the same way, outboard bushing 142 is fitted into an opposite cylindrical bore in outboard nose wheel well fitting 140. Both outboard bushing 142 and inboard bushing 132 concentrically receive trunnion pin 100. Nose wheel well web 135 has an opening adapted to clear trunnion pin 100. As landing gear fitting 110 is fitted up against inboard nose wheel well fitting 130 it is sometimes necessary to add shims 115. Further, both inboard and outboard bushings 132 and 142 have lubrication channels 148 formed in their inside surfaces to allow continuous lubrication of the trunnion pin and bushing surfaces. Lubricant is replenished to these channels through a lubrication fitting 146. Both inboard and outboard bushings 132 and 142 have outer flanges 133 and 149 respectively. Retaining clip 150 clamps down on an outer flange 149 of outboard bushing 142 and prevents it from migrating outboard and away from the trunnion pin joint. FIG. 5 is a view of the trunnion pin joint 90 from the outside of the nose wheel well and it shows that retaining clip 150 is secured to outboard nose wheel well fitting 140 by retaining clip bolt 152.

Reference numerals utilized in identifying component structure in the aforementioned detailed description:

    ______________________________________                                         FIGS. 1 and 2                                                                  ______________________________________                                         landing gear        12                                                         shock strut assembly                                                                               10                                                         drag brace members  20                                                         trunnion pins       30                                                         bushings            40                                                         landing gear support fittings                                                                      45                                                         self-lubricating bearing                                                                           50                                                         cylindrical steel pin                                                                              60                                                         cylindrical bushing 70                                                         ______________________________________                                    

    ______________________________________                                         FIGS. 3, 4 and 5                                                               ______________________________________                                         trunnion pin joint    90                                                       trunnion pin         100                                                       landing gear fitting 110                                                       shims                115                                                       retention bolt       120                                                       inboard nose wheel well fitting                                                                     130                                                       inboard bushing      132                                                       inboard bushing outer flange                                                                        133                                                       wheel well web       135                                                       outboard bushing     142                                                       lubrication fitting  146                                                       lubrication channels 148                                                       outboard bushing outer flange                                                                       149                                                       retaining clip       150                                                       retaining clip bolt  152                                                       ______________________________________                                    

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiment illustrated and described, and the true scope of the invention is to be determined by reference to the following claims.

The embodiment of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: 

What is claimed is:
 1. In combination in an aircraft structure:a landing gear assembly; a landing gear trunnion pin joint including a trunnion pin for mounting said landing gear assembly to said aircraft structure; said landing gear assembly having an inboard nose wheel well fitting and an outboard nose wheel well fitting; an inboard bushing and an outboard bushing symmetrically mounted respectively in each of said inboard and outboard nose wheel well fittings; and retention means comprising a retaining clip mounted on said outboard nose wheel well fitting for preventing said outboard bushing mounted in said outboard nose wheel well fitting from migrating way from said trunnion pin.
 2. The combination according to claim 1 further including a shock strut assembly shorter than the space between the inboard surfaces of said left and right inboard nose wheel well fittings; and said trunnion pin disposed in each end of said strut assembly and through said inboard and outboard bushings and retained by a retention bolt passing through the strut and pin. 